Mrs Davey came across the pair as she was passing the workshop, beside her house.
She said she couldn't believe what she saw.
"The car was totally written off - they were lucky to be alive.
"They had been dropped off. A large container of yoghurt had gone over everything, and they were trying to clean it off.
"They were so shaken up - they were in shock."
She asked them what happened, taking in the mess and their ripped backpacks.
The pair managed to find their money, in a wallet that had lodged behind the radio.
Mrs Davey went and got her car, loading up their equipment and taking them to her house.
The distraught couple still had to pay the tow company, and contact a wrecker to haul away the car.
So Mrs Davey offered them her house for the night, putting their clothes through the wash and giving them an old pack of hers, plus a canvas suitcase.
"I cooked them a big meal, they had a shower, she was able to call her mother in England, who was so relieved someone had helped them and taken them in."
The couple had been talking about cutting their holiday short, but Mrs Davey said they felt better in the morning.
They caught a bus to Palmerston North, where they planned to continue to Wellington and on to the South Island.
Mrs Davey said she hoped anyone would have done the same.
"Why wouldn't you?"
Mr Iliopoulos said he thought the car's steering had been faulty. He had lost control of the car earlier but had put it down to driving on a gravel road.
"The car was our accommodation and transportation," said Mr Iliopoulos.
Ms Smithson said "finding Olivia was like finding an angel".
